Mechanics Design
Adela Heczkova, ID 1700076 (Hunger, Food, Rats, People, Health, Wilderness) Nivritti Khurana, ID 1805574 (Movement, Scent, Alligators, Editing) In this game, the player takes control of an alligator who was flushed down the toilet by its owner’s mother, ending up in the sewers. The player must navigate the maze-like sewers to make it's way back to it's owner. Movement The player is given four directional movement. Scent The player is able to try to detect the scent of their owner in order to give them a direction to go in. However, the scent will fade over time, making it harder for players to track the exact direction. Initially, the player will be able to see a general direction that the scent is coming from. As the player reaches closer to the end, the scent from their collar will start to 'fade', meaning that the player will be able to pick up very faint hints if they are facing the right direction. If the player's wild level is high, then it will be even more difficult for them to pick the Owner's scent and follow it home. Hunger The alligator, like all animals, needs to eat. The player will always be alerted of the hunger level by the bar present in the bottom left corner of the screen. The value comes in three colours – red, yellow and green. Keeping the hunger indicator bar green will prove rather beneficial to the player, as the alligator will be the fastest and strongest. Yellow will not affect the player much – the alligator will move at regular speed but red will weaken the player significantly while reducing their health points periodically. Food There are two main sources of food in the sewers – rats and people, as well as a potential source of food- other alligators. Rats There are three types of rats – small, medium and large, and each has a different food value. Most of the rats found in the sewers are small but fast, medium ones are found less and they also aren’t as fast as the small rats. Large rats are the rarest of the three, but they are also the slowest and have the highest food value. Eating rats will result in the alligator growing bigger but the size will be capped as rats are small and not very nutritious. Alligators The player will come across other alligators as well. The eyes of enemy alligators glow, giving the player sufficient warning from a distance. The player can choose to find a way around the alligators or attack them. Alligators that are smaller than the player have eyes that glow green- indicating that the player has more chances of winning by attacking them. On the other hand, alligators who are larger than the player will have eyes that glow red. The player is free to attack smaller or larger alligators, but the chances of them winning the fight and eating their opponent depends on how big the player is. Eating other alligators increases the player's size faster than eating rats, and will fill up the player's hunger indicator. People Occasionally, a person appears in the sewers, while the player should try not to get noticed by them, they’re also given the option to sneak up to them and attack and eat them. Doing so will fill the hunger indicator fully, no matter how low the value was before. Eating people also makes the alligator grow larger and stronger, but will increase the player's Wild level Health The player has a certain amount of health points, which can be lost by either getting attacked by other alligators, animal control or by being too hungry. Losing all health points results in the death of the player and a game over. Regaining health A small amount of health can be regained by eating, with rats giving less than people. The main way of getting your health back, though, is finding a drain and putting your snout outside and letting the sun hit it, which increases the health points periodically. If the player stays near the surface for too long, they will be noticed by humans, and the noise will confuse the alligator, increasing the player's Wild level. Wildness There is a hidden mechanic in the game – wildness, which affects the player based on its value – giving each player a diachronic experience. After achieving a certain level (indicated by size), the alligator will start getting noticed by animal control, getting exposure in the newspapers and more people will come to the sewers hoping to get rid of it, making the game more difficult. This statistic alters the ending of the game based on its value – the player should aim for the lowest level as it’s the only one that will give them a happy ending. The wild level increases with every human the player chooses to attack, but the player is given one free pass, because one disappearance, while suspicious, will not start a thorough investigation of the sewers. There is also a slight chance for an increase when the player abuses the health regenerating mechanic of putting their snout outside of the sewers. The level of player’s naughtiness cannot be reduced, as the deed had already been done, thus forcing the player to face the consequences of their actions. While this statistic is hidden from the player, they are given a warning when it reaches a certain level – they will see articles about alligator attacks or mysterious sightings in the drains. With every human the player kills, the alligator sprite will appear more bloodstained and scary.